77-726: The Mid-South North American Heavyweight Championship was the major singles title in the Mid-South Wrestling Association from 1979 until the promotion became the Universal Wrestling Federation in 1986. The title was retired then in favor of the UWF Heavyweight Championship . The promotion was originally a member of the National Wrestling Alliance referred to as NWA Tri-State , hence
154-443: A joint sales agreement (JSA) with its owner at the time, Paxson Communications (now Ion Media Networks ). Under the terms of the agreement, which was modeled similarly to other outsourcing agreements between Paxson and an owner of a local major network affiliate during that timeframe, KTBS also rebroadcast its 5 and 10 p.m. newscasts on channel 21. On June 17, 2003, Paxson announced it would sell KPXJ to KTBS, LLC for $ 10 million;
231-736: A "five-time rookie of the year." As the UWF's merge with "the NWA" was taking place, Terry Taylor , who held the UWF Television Championship , began an angle with the NWA World Television Champion , Nikita Koloff . Taylor stole the NWA TV title belt during an NWA show, but Koloff (with help from Dusty Rhodes ) reclaimed it before their official in-ring encounter. They met at Starrcade 1987 , and Nikita unified
308-646: A 4% share—and that FCC should relax ownership limits that apply to the Shreveport–Texarkana market so that Channel 21 could stay on the air; that limit (found in CFR§73.3555(b)(2) of the FCC's rules) permits ownership duopolies in markets with at least eight full-power stations, whereas Shreveport–Texarkana has only seven. The transfer was completed on August 3 of that year, officially making KTBS-TV and KPXJ directly owned sister stations. KTBS-TV currently broadcasts
385-406: A duopoly under FCC rules), it is the first duopoly legally allowed in the market. KTBS, LLC included in its license transfer request a "failing station waiver," indicating that KPXJ was in an economically non-viable position—noting that the station had lost revenue for the previous three years, and had averaged only a 1 audience share point for all but two sweeps ratings books while never reaching over
462-610: A fireball at Hacksaw Jim Duggan ("blinding" him temporarily), and the Freebirds breaking Steve Williams' arm. Williams recruited Oklahoma Sooners (and future Dallas Cowboys head coach) Barry Switzer into training and getting back into the ring. It paid off on July 11, 1987 when Dr. Death defeated Big Bubba Rogers (Ray Traylor) to win the UWF Heavyweight Championship . The Freebirds became faces around that time, as they began feuding with Skandor Akbar's army as well as The Angel of Death. A prelim wrestler, Mike Boyette, wrestled in
539-730: A full hour on August 3, 2009. On September 12, 2005, KTBS began producing a half-hour weekday 7 a.m. newscast for KPXJ, predating the debut of a two-hour-long 7 a.m. newscast on Fox affiliate KMSS-TV (channel 33) by two years. (That newscast was expanded to one hour in February 2012, and was later shifted to 9 a.m. in September 2013, placing it in direct competition with a half-hour newscast in that slot on KSLA). On October 15, 2008, KTBS began broadcasting its newscasts in 16:9 widescreen standard definition. On June 28, 2010, KTBS expanded its 6 p.m. newscast to one hour, becoming
616-466: A match and injured him, thus Adams had to choose another tag partner. He chose Terry Taylor, whose team lost a semi-final match to Rick Steiner and Sting. Taylor and Adams eventually won the UWF tag team titles, and held the belts for two months. Meanwhile, Adams and Parsons engaged in a lengthy feud, which lasted for more than a decade (the two had feuded earlier in WCCW when Adams was the heel and Parsons
693-490: A national-level rival of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now known as WWE ). However, Watts' business strategy quickly swung from "overnight" success to catastrophic failure, resulting in the 1987 sale of the UWF to another rival: Jim Crockett Promotions (owner of Mid-Atlantic Wrestling , Georgia Championship Wrestling , the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA)'s most important championships, and
770-570: A press conference, where Taylor spoke about his situation with Adams and then left. Chris later took questions, which prompted Taylor to attack Adams with a chair. The following week, Adams conducted an interview vowing revenge against both Taylor and Eddie Gilbert. Other famous UWF angles included promoter Bill Watts being attacked and having the flag of the Soviet Union draped on him by Eddie Gilbert, Missy Hyatt cold-cocking John Tatum after joining forces with Gilbert, Skandor Akbar throwing
847-519: A regional territory show. In the mid-1980s, MSW began to expand nationally. In 1985, longtime wrestling fan Ted Turner invited Watts to air MSW's weekly TV show on Turner's SuperStation TBS network. Turner wanted an alternative to the World Wrestling Federation show airing in the coveted 2-hour, Saturday-evening timeslot, which the WWF had acquired when it bought out the majority ownership of Georgia Championship Wrestling . (see: Black Saturday ) Turner
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#1732783076512924-399: A severe recession in late 1986. This left the blue collar core of the UWF's fanbase with far less disposable income to spend on things like attending wrestling shows. Watts sold the UWF to JCP on April 9, 1987, and many of the UWF's top stars were either retained by JCP, or immediately left for the WWF or WCCW. Unlike the other NWA-affiliated promotions JCP had bought out in the mid-1980s,
1001-557: A two-year promotional war against International Championship Wrestling that included the "outlaw" promotion filing an antitrust lawsuit against McGuirk and Watts. In 1979, Bill Watts acquired the Tri-State Wrestling territory from Leroy McGuirk, and re-branded it Mid-South Wrestling (MSW; officially, the Mid-South Wrestling Association). One of Watts' first acts as owner was to withdraw
1078-560: A year; however, one wrestler would go from UWF midcarder/tag team act, to breakout star in JCP, and the wrestling industry as a whole: Sting . Sting's UWF tag team (as The Blade Runners ) partner would later become a WWF wrestling legend, too: The Ultimate Warrior . In October 1988, JCP, one of the biggest and late stage casualties of the "going national" war with the WWF, sold its collection of territories and titles to Ted Turner's TBS . Turner re-branded JCP "World Championship Wrestling," naming
1155-411: Is issued for any county in its Ark-La-Tex viewing area. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, KTBS became engaged in very competitive race with CBS affiliate KSLA for first place in overall news viewership, occasionally trading places with one another in certain time periods. At present, channel 3 generally places second, behind KSLA, in the early and late evening time periods among total viewers. During
1232-633: The Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon for several decades leading up to 2015, when the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) discontinued the telethon; nearly all of its tenure carrying the telethon was spent as the Ark-La-Tex region's "Love Network" affiliate, having raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to benefit the organization. KTBS was, due to the long-time ABC affiliation, one of
1309-492: The Hulkamania -era WWF, Mid-South Wrestling's content focused on: energetic matches performed before raucous and packed crowds; characters whose personas blurred the line between good and evil; an intensely physical, athletic wrestling style; and an episodic TV show format. The promotion ran shows in a mix of small venues and gigantic arenas. In 1980, a card pitting a "blinded" Junkyard Dog against Freebird Michael Hayes in
1386-646: The Monroe Morning World and The News-Star in Monroe ) in neighboring states would produce a concentration of broadcast and newspaper facilities by a single company, but noted that the Times ' s joint printing agreement with the Shreveport Journal produced "no disservice to the public interest" due to the lack of a forced combination in print advertising. (A petition by KWKH to reconsider
1463-535: The SAFER Act , KTBS-TV kept its analog signal on the air until June 26 to inform viewers of the digital television transition through a loop of public service announcements from the National Association of Broadcasters . KTBS is carried on various cable providers outside of the Shreveport–Texarkana market. The station is carried as far as Longview, Texas , to the west, Mount Pleasant, Texas , to
1540-665: The Sam Houston Coliseum (one of the most famous arenas in professional wrestling), and other parts of southeastern Texas . Mid-South used Shreveport, Louisiana as the base for its television tapings, which were first housed in the studios of KTBS-TV until they were moved around 1982 to the Irish McNeel Sports for Boys club, located on the Louisiana State Fairgrounds. Instead of the cartoon-ish characters and interviews common to
1617-594: The Times and the Journal , contending that the testimony of KWKH president William H. Bronson in respect to the agreement alone was insufficient and that the agreement be submitted for review in judging the KWKH application. KTBS Inc. respesentatives contended the agreement was relevant "because the [Times Publishing Company and the Journal Publishing Company, the newspapers' respective owners] publish
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#17327830765121694-556: The Universal Wrestling Federation , and securing a syndication deal airing their two one-hour, weekly TV programs (the lesser show, Power Pro Wrestling debuted in 1984) in major markets across the United States. The TV tapings were also taken out of Shreveport and moved on location at various live shows throughout the Mid-South/UWF territory. New wrestlers, mostly from World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW), joined
1771-493: The construction permit to build and license to operate a new television station on the first commercial VHF allocation to be assigned to Shreveport. On June 27, 1952, one week before the FCC released a Report and Order reallocation memorandum that lifted a four-year moratorium on new television broadcast license applications , Shreveport-based KTBS Inc. (a family-led group owned by George D. Wray Sr., Edwin N. Wray Sr., George D. Wray Jr., Charles W. Wray and John A. Hendrick) filed
1848-505: The FCC rejected the application as agency ownership rules prohibited common ownership of two television stations in a single market if there are fewer than eight independent full-power station owners. As such, Paxson reached an agreement to sell the KPXJ license to Minden Television Company LLC (owned by Lauren Wray Ostendorff, daughter of Edwin N. Wray Jr., part-owner of KTBS), an indirect subsidiary of Wray Properties Trust, for $ 10 million. After
1925-562: The KTBS viewing area that do not carry KTBS-DT2 the option of watching the affected shows on ABC's desktop and mobile streaming platforms or its cable/satellite video-on-demand service the day after their initial airing. For many years, one of the most watched Sunday programs on KTBS has been The First Word , broadcasts of the morning worship services at the large First Baptist Church of Bossier City that began airing on channel 3 in June 1983. KTBS
2002-501: The KTBS-TV multiplex for continued ATSC 1.0 broadcast, for a total of eight. KTBS-TV discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over VHF channel 3, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 28, using virtual channel 3. As part of
2079-544: The May 2008 ratings period, KTBS's newscasts placed number one in several time periods. In September 2000, in conjunction with the joint sales agreement that Paxson had signed with KTBS-TV, KPXJ began airing tape delayed rebroadcasts of that station's 5 and 10 p.m. newscasts Monday through Fridays at 5:30 and 10:30 p.m. (the latter beginning shortly before that program's live broadcast ended on channel 3). The rebroadcasts were discontinued on September 1, 2003, coinciding with
2156-570: The Saturday timeslot from McMahon, and become TBS' sole pro wrestling show. Watts made one more attempt at going national the following year. As part of that plan, Watts replaced Mid-South Wrestling's parochial brandname with a more corporate, ambitious (and WWF-like) one: the Universal Wrestling Federation. In March 1986, MSW "went national" (the goal of the most ambitious regional promotions of this era), re-launching as
2233-470: The Shreveport area. KTBS's contract with NBC was not scheduled to expire until September 1962, though, with the planned relocation of KCMC to cover Shreveport, there had been speculation that KTBS and KTAL would swap primary affiliations before the contract was set to expire. On September 3, 1961, KTAL took over as the exclusive NBC affiliate for the Shreveport–Texarkana market; KTBS-TV concurrently became
2310-461: The Shreveport–Texarkana market. In addition, KTBS-TV produces an additional 17 hours of locally produced newscasts each week for KPXJ (with three hours each on weekdays and one hour each on Saturday and Sundays), along with producing the hour-long high school football highlight show Friday Football Fever , which airs on KPXJ on Friday nights during the fall months. In total, KTBS produces 50 + 1 ⁄ 2 hours of local newscasts each week between
2387-493: The UWF and is believed to be one of the very few wrestlers to never win a match. Video editors for the show even put together a music video of his various losses in the ring, set to the Little River Band song " Lonesome Loser ". "Gorgeous" Gary Young also competed in the UWF, claiming that he was a rookie. He actually had five years experience under his belt. Young's claims prompted Jim Ross to begin referring to him as
Mid-South North American Heavyweight Championship - Misplaced Pages Continue
2464-636: The UWF did not immediately end; JCP kept its brand—and its three championships—alive in TV storylines until December 1987, when JCP's NWA-affiliated characters defeated all of the UWF characters in a series of "title vs. title" unification matches, among others. Only a few UWF wrestlers were well-received by JCP's fanbase; they included: the Fabulous Freebirds , Shane Douglas , Rick Steiner , Eddie Gilbert , and UWF centerpiece "Dr. Death" Steve Williams . Most UWF imports were gone from JCP's roster within
2541-461: The WWF would shoot local, in-studio matches, but only infrequently, and they were usually predictable squash matches .) MSW quickly became TBS' highest-rated show, so Watts positioned MSW to take over once Turner could force the WWF off his network. Watts' luck ran out, however, when former Georgia Championship Wrestling co-owner Jim Barnett helped broker a deal enabling North Carolina-based Jim Crockett Promotions' (led by Jim Crockett, Jr. ) to buy
2618-484: The Wray-owned namesake radio station on 710 AM (now KEEL ) since 1929, and applied to its FM sister on 96.5 (now KVKI-FM ) upon its sign-on in 1953. (The calls can also be taken to reference the three cities in its service area, " Texarkana , Bossier , Shreveport".) KTBS-TV first signed on the air on September 3, 1955; it was the third television station to sign on in the present day Shreveport–Texarkana market and
2695-451: The broadcast television industry, KTBS is one of the few major network affiliates in the U.S. that has remained under local ownership. It became the first of the local " Big Three " affiliates in Shreveport and the second television station in the market to launch stereo broadcasting, doing so in May 1987. In January 1999, KTBS, LLC assumed partial operational responsibilities for Pax TV owned-and-operated station KPXJ (channel 21) under
2772-600: The closure of Leroy McGuirk's Tri-State promotion in Oklahoma, and remained through the transition to UWF. Bill Watts's son Joel Watts was later added to the Mid-South/UWF broadcasting team, and also worked behind-the-scenes as a producer of the TV program. Following Jim Crockett Promotions' purchase of the UWF, both Bill and Joel Watts exited the promotion and Jim Ross was joined by various partners including Magnum T. A. , Michael P.S. Hayes and Missy Hyatt . Veteran JCP announcer Bob Caudle became Ross's permanent partner near
2849-713: The closure of UWF. Frank Dusek and Toni Adams also served as ringside commentators during the course of its UWF tenure; both of whom moved on to World Class. KTBS-TV KTBS-TV (channel 3) is a television station in Shreveport, Louisiana , United States, affiliated with ABC . The station is owned by the locally based KTBS, LLC (owned by the Wray Properties Trust, which is managed by Betty Wray Anderson, John D. Wray, and Edwin N. Wray, Jr.), alongside Minden -licensed CW affiliate KPXJ (channel 21). The two stations share studios on East Kings Highway on
2926-832: The company from the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). However, MSW would remain loosely aligned with the NWA, continuing to have the NWA World Heavyweight Champion defend the title on MSW shows, which spiked live event sales. (During the "territory" system [1940s-1980s], the NWA World Heavyweight Champion would travel to each NWA-affiliated territory to defend the title against its top-drawing local star.) MSW then added Arkansas to its circuit. In 1982, MSW expanded to Oklahoma when McGuirk closed his personal, Oklahoma-based promotion. McGuirk also formed an alliance with Houston promoter Paul Boesch to feature Mid-South talent on shows at
3003-437: The company, as did former WCCW co-promoter Ken Mantell . Despite the UWF's strong early ratings and critical praise, it could not compete nationally with Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP) and the WWF, as both had stronger TV distribution and larger live event, pay-per-view (and, in the WWF's case, merchandise licensing) revenue streams. The UWF was further hurt when the oil-based economy of its richest local market—Oklahoma—fell into
3080-836: The complete ABC network schedule (it did not begin clearing the entire network lineup until April 2018, when it reduced its Sunday 5 p.m. newscast to a half-hour in order to start carrying the Sunday edition of ABC World News Tonight , which had been preempted by KTBS since the mid-1990s ). The station may preempt some ABC programs in order to air long-form breaking news or severe weather coverage, or occasional specials produced by KTBS' news department. ABC shows preempted or otherwise interrupted by such content may either be rebroadcast on tape delay over KTBS' main channel in place of regular overnight programs. Station personnel also gives viewers who subscribe to AT&T U-verse , DirecTV , Dish Network and other pay television providers within
3157-463: The controversial firing of meteorologist Rhonda Lee. The station claims that she (and another newscaster) were fired for violating the station's policy on responding to Facebook comments, while supporters of Lee claim that she was fired for her decision to respond to a racist and sexist comment. On August 22, 2016, KTBS began producing an hour-long weekday afternoon newscast at 4 p.m. for KPXJ (titled KTBS 3 News at 4:00 on KPXJ 21 ), making it
Mid-South North American Heavyweight Championship - Misplaced Pages Continue
3234-410: The eastern side of Shreveport; KTBS-TV's transmitter is located near St. Johns Baptist Church Road (southeast of Mooringsport and Caddo Lake ) in rural northern Caddo Parish . Currently, KTBS-TV is one of a handful of American television stations to have locally based ownership. The VHF channel 3 allocation was contested between three groups that competed for approval by the FCC to be the holder of
3311-648: The estate of Paul Boesch , who was the Houston territory's promoter. Select episodes of Mid-South are available for viewing on the WWE Network and on the NBCUniversal -owned Peacock streaming service in the United States. The Battle of New Orleans was a long-playing brawl between Eddie Gilbert, Terry Taylor , Chris Adams and Sting , which began in the ring and spilled out into the concession area. Beer kegs , chairs, tables, popcorn machine and anything
3388-648: The few "Love Network" affiliates to still air the telethon during its last two years (as the MDA Show of Strength ), during which time it was aired as part of the ABC network schedule (on September 1, 2013, and again on its last telecast, August 31, 2014). Other fundraisers held by the station include the KTBS M*A*S*H B*A*S*H Blood Drive , and the St. Jude Dream Home Giveaway (its participation in
3465-441: The few stations in a non-Top 50 Nielsen market to begin their weekday morning newscast at 4:30). On October 14, 2010, beginning with the station's 5 p.m. newscast, KTBS became the first television station in the Shreveport–Texarkana market to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition (rival KSLA began producing its news programming in high definition the next morning). In December 2012, KTBS became ensnared over
3542-623: The first station in the market to carry an hour-long 6 p.m. newscast (CBS affiliate KSLA began broadcasting an hour-long 6 p.m. newscast a short time later); as a result, KTAL is the only Big Three affiliate in the market to carry syndicated programming during the 6:30 half-hour. In July 2010, KTBS expanded the weekend edition of its 10 p.m. newscast to one hour (again, KSLA quickly followed suit with an hour-long newscast at 10 p.m. on weekends). On August 30, 2010, KTBS expanded its weekday morning newscasts to 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 hours, by moving its start time to 4:30 a.m. (one of
3619-482: The first television station in the market to offer a local newscast to air in that timeslot. (The program would soon gain a competitor when KSLA launched its own hour-long 4 p.m. newscast two weeks later on September 7.) The station's signal is multiplexed : As part of the deployment of ATSC 3.0 (NextGen TV) in Shreveport on June 28, KPXJ was converted to 3.0 service, airing subchannels 3.1 through 3.3 and 21.1. In exchange, all four of KPXJ's subchannels moved to
3696-572: The floor. The Taylor-Adams war proved to be one of the most violent feuds in the UWF, with an equal intensity to the feud Adams had with the Von Erichs in World Class. The feud did have a short interruption when Taylor was injured in an automobile accident, but picked up again by the summer and carried over to World Class by 1988. Taylor and Adams promoted a famous angle in August which involved
3773-451: The four wrestlers could get their hands on were used in the brawl which lasted nearly 15 minutes. Sting and Gilbert fought outside the ring, when Rick Steiner came in and piledrived Shane Douglas. With Taylor on top, referee Randy Anderson made the pinfall. Later, Adams came out and told Anderson what had happened, which prompted Gilbert and Taylor to gang-up on Adams. Sting came in to even the sides, and that resulted in an all-out brawl outside
3850-423: The grant of the channel 3 permit to KTBS Inc. was denied in May 1955, with the FCC admonishing KWKH for "repetitious[...], reckless and unsupported" charges in its petition that a KTBS principal witness committed perjury, and its "assertions and insinuations" that the agency did not give "fair, impartial" consideration to the evidence submitted; a subsequent appeal by International Broadcasting/KWKH seeking to overturn
3927-658: The grant, was denied by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana in March 1956.) The Wray-led group subsequently requested and received approval to assign KTBS-TV as the television station's call letters; the base KTBS callsign – standing for "Tri-State Broadcasting System," the moniker that the Wrays used for the other radio stations they owned in Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas – had been used by
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#17327830765124004-502: The initial application for the permit. Another Shreveport-based company, International Broadcasting Corp. (a consortium that owned local radio station KWKH [1130 AM and 94.5 FM; the latter is now KRUF ] and was managed by William H. Bronson, Robert Ewing Jr., Wilson Ewing, Henry R. Clay and Toulmin Brown, the latter of whom was an assistant secretary principal to Shreveport Times parent Times Publishing Co.), filed its own application for
4081-449: The latter was notable for being the giveaway's first television broadcast partner in the U.S.). As of September 2018 , KTBS-TV broadcasts 33 + 1 ⁄ 2 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with 5 + 1 ⁄ 2 hours each weekday and three hours each on Saturdays and Sundays); in regards to the number of hours devoted to news programming, it is the highest local newscast output among all broadcast television stations in
4158-582: The main event drew nearly 30,000 fans for a show presented by a promotion less than one year old. In 1984, Watts came out of retirement to team with a masked Junkyard Dog (under the name Stagger Lee ) to face the Midnight Express to cap an angle in which the Express and manager Jim Cornette beat Watts on TV . Its undercard featured a showdown between Magnum T.A. and Mr. Wrestling II . The 1984 show drew 22,000 fans—an unimaginably large crowd for
4235-514: The market's exclusive ABC affiliate as well as the second full-time ABC affiliate in the state of Louisiana (after WVUE-TV [now a Fox affiliate] in New Orleans , which became a full-time ABC station in 1957). Over the years, KTBS has become one of the strongest ABC affiliates in the country. In an era where most broadcast television stations have become owned by larger chain broadcasting companies due to increased ownership consolidation in
4312-677: The merger, left in mid-1988 for the WWF, where they were renamed the Bushwhackers . Terry Taylor also departed, appearing in World Class for a few months (feuding with Chris Adams and Kevin Von Erich), then the WWF in mid-1988 as The Red Rooster . Taylor would go on to have a long WWF/WWE career behind-the-scenes, holding various management and creative team roles. Mid-South's main television broadcasting team included Bill Watts and Boyd Pierce, with KTBS-TV staff announcer Reisor Bowden serving as ring announcer. Jim Ross joined Mid-South after
4389-442: The network's primary affiliate for the enlarged Shreveport–Texarkana market. KCMC owner Camden News Publishing Co. – which, in 1960, received permission to move the station's transmitter to a site 2.3 miles (3.7 km) south-southwest of Vivian , in a move that would consolidate Shreveport and Texarkana into a single television market – was in the process of expanding its service area to encompass and its primary operations to serve
4466-537: The new Wild West Wrestling promotion, which later merged with World Class Championship Wrestling . "Gentleman" Chris Adams , who initially stayed with Jim Crockett Promotions post-UWF, left due to a money dispute and returned to World Class in November 1987. DiBiase, Big Bubba Rogers, One Man Gang, and Sam Houston joined the WWF, joining fellow UWF alumnus " Hacksaw Jim Duggan ", who the WWF had signed in February 1987. The Sheepherders, who originally joined Crockett after
4543-583: The new company after its TBS TV show. Ironically, "Cowboy" Bill Watts ended up running the same business that had swallowed his own: In spring of 1992, WCW hired Watts as its latest Executive Vice President; he held the role less than a year. World Wrestling Entertainment acquired most of the Mid-South/UWF video archive, absorbing it into its WWE Libraries collection in 2012 -- with a notable exception: Mid-South/UWF matches taped for Houston Wrestling which aired on KHTV in Houston . Those rights are held by
4620-604: The northwest, El Dorado, Arkansas , to the northeast, Jonesboro, Louisiana , to the southeast, and Carthage, Texas , to the southwest. The station became one of two default ABC affiliates (alongside KLAX-TV in Alexandria ) for the Monroe–El Dorado market after that market's ABC affiliate, KARD-TV , became a Fox affiliate in April 1994; the market would not receive an ABC affiliate of its own again until KAQY signed on
4697-512: The only major newspapers in Shreveport" and because Times Publishing would be the business agent for both newspapers and exert control of KWKH. On June 16, 1954, FCC Hearing Examiner Basil Cooper issued an initial decision looking to grant the construction permit application for channel 3 to KTBS Inc. The FCC Broadcast Bureau granted exclusive rights to the permit to Shreveport Television Company on February 16, 1955, formally denying KRMD and Southland Television's respective bids, finding that KTBS Inc.
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#17327830765124774-695: The permit on July 3. A wrench in International Broadcasting's application was a concurring proposed merger between Shreveport's two major daily newspapers, the Shreveport Times and the Shreveport Journal . On December 4, 1953, the FCC Broadcast Bureau reversed a hearing examiner's decision and approved KTBS Inc.'s request to subpoena International Broadcasting/KWKH for a "merger" agreement between
4851-533: The predecessor of World Championship Wrestling ). The promotion began as an NWA territory , NWA Tri-State , founded by Leroy McGuirk in the 1950s. Tri-State/Mid-South/UWF promoted in Oklahoma , Arkansas , Louisiana and Mississippi until 1987. Because Watts did not register the "Universal Wrestling Federation" name with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, businessman Herb Abrams
4928-429: The purchase was finalized, the Wrays converted KPXJ into the market's UPN affiliate. On December 30, 2008, KTBS, LLC (by way of Wray Properties Trust) filed an application with the FCC to purchase KPXJ from Minden Television for $ 10.3 million, which would create the market's first legal television duopoly. As the Shreveport–Texarkana market has only eight full-power television stations (the minimum required to create
5005-558: The rights to which it shared with KSLA-TV, which had carried a secondary affiliation with that network since it signed on. The station has maintained studio facilities located at 312 East Kings Highway since its inception, sharing its facility with KTBS radio. The radio stations were sold off in the late 1950s, but the Wrays (who are also the owners of a car dealership franchise in Shreveport) have retained channel 3 to this day. In March 1961, NBC reached an agreement with KCMC-TV to become
5082-419: The ring to attack Williams and DiBiase. The match ended when Williams and DiBiase were counted out, and Adams and Parsons won the match. Adams, who was helping Williams and DiBiase fight off Akbar and his army, wanted the match to continue, but Parsons wanted the win. After a lengthy argument, Adams and Parsons split, and Chris chose Savannah Jack as his new tag team partner. Iceman sucker-punched Savannah during
5159-621: The ring. Gilbert was the mastermind of this famous angle and received huge praise from fellow promoters and wrestlers. Adams was engaged in a storyline involving Iceman King Parsons and Taylor, which evolved out of the UWF Tag Team Championship tournament in February 1987. Originally, Adams and Iceman were one of the eight teams participating, and Taylor was teamed with Sam Houston . In a semi-finals match, Adams and Iceman wrestled against "Dr Death" Steve Williams and Ted DiBiase until Skandor Akbar's Devastation Inc. charged
5236-433: The second to be licensed to Shreveport, after Shreveport-based KSLA (channel 12), which signed on the air on January 1, 1954; and Texarkana, Texas-licensed KCMC-TV (channel 6, now KTAL-TV ), which debuted on August 16, 1953. The station originally operated as a primary NBC affiliate, owing to KTBS radio's longtime relationship with the progenitor NBC Red Network . It also maintained a secondary affiliation with ABC ,
5313-506: The station's assumption of the UPN affiliation and the transfer of KPXJ to the Wray family's stewardship. On that date, KTBS began producing a nightly, half-hour prime time newscast at 9 p.m. for channel 21 (the first locally produced prime time newscast to be offered in the Shreveport–Texarkana market); that program, which utilizes the same format as the 10 p.m. newscast on KTBS, expanded to
5390-564: The title was originally the Tri-State version of the NWA North American Heavyweight Championship from 1969 to 1979. Universal Wrestling Federation (United States) The Universal Wrestling Federation was a 1986 re-branding of wrestler-turned-owner Bill Watts ' Mid-South Wrestling promotion. Watts' goal was to elevate his promotion from a relatively smaller, regional-level business, to
5467-521: The two stations. In addition to the station's main studios on Kings Highway, KTBS operates a news bureau located on Jefferson Avenue in Texarkana, Arkansas . During the weeknight 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts, the station airs news segments featuring stories from the East Texas area. KTBS may simulcast its long-form severe weather coverage on KTBS-DT2 and/or KPXJ in the event that a tornado warning
5544-801: The two titles as the final leg of the NWA-UWF merger was finished. Williams would successfully defend the UWF Heavyweight Title on the same show versus Barry Windham . Williams immediately left to do a series of lucrative performances in Japan; the title was retired while he was in Asia. Sting, Rick Steiner, Eddie Gilbert, Missy Hyatt, announcer Jim Ross , Brad Armstrong and the aforementioned Taylor became permanent NWA roster members, among others. The Freebirds, Savannah Jack, Iceman King Parsons , matchmaker Frank Dusek, and promoter Ken Mantell joined
5621-542: Was a more qualified permittee due to its local ownership, integration of ownership and management, and had more extensive participation by its ownership in local affairs. The KWKH application was denied due to critical deficiencies under FCC's diversification of media of communications policy, citing its ownership of two clear channel radio stations (KWKH-AM and KTHS [now KAAY ] in Little Rock, Arkansas ) and its parent's ownership of three newspapers (the Times , and
5698-504: Was able to use it to launch an unrelated wrestling promotion of the same name in 1990. A former territory wrestler who was blinded in a 1950 auto accident, Leroy McGuirk eventually took over promoting a wrestling circuit covering Oklahoma , Louisiana and Mississippi . Until 1973, "Cowboy" Bill Watts had been one of Tri-State's most popular wrestlers. After leaving Tri-State for Eddie Graham 's Championship Wrestling from Florida , Watts returned to Tri-State in 1975. NWA Tri-State fought
5775-448: Was angered by the WWF show because McMahon had promised him it would feature matches and promos taped in TBS' Atlanta studios (as Georgia Championship Wrestling had done for years). But instead of fresh, locally-produced content, the WWF's TBS show only presented clips and highlights from other WWF TV shows – some, depending on TV market, airing at the same time the TBS show did. (Eventually,
5852-416: Was the babyface ), with Parsons frequently referring to Adams as "Jailbird," a reference to Adams serving jail time in 1986 on an assault conviction. Taylor and Adams, who dominated the UWF tag team scene, lost a match to Steiner and Sting when Taylor kicked Adams foot off the rope as he was being pinned by Sting. A face-vs-face bout between Adams and Taylor marked Taylor's heel turn as he piledrived Adams on
5929-466: Was the market's broadcaster of the Louisiana Lottery 's televised drawings from the lottery's inception in 1993 until April 2009, when the rights to the midday and evening drawings were acquired by KTAL; KTBS re-acquired the rights to the drawings in 2012, and now air on sister station KPXJ at 9:59 p.m., with a replay being carried on channel 3 during KTBS 3 News at 10:00 . KTBS aired
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